I enjoyed this video from Oz-based comedy band Axis of Awesome.
The
I-V-vi-IV chord progression has a long history, but somewhere during the nineties, it became not just ubiquitous, but a trademark of pseudo-soulful lazy, factory-churned music. (It's especially obnoxious when this progression is repeated without variation through an entire song.) Even today, it's the basis of Train's "Soul Sister," an earworm that some people find catchy, probably because they've been hearing it their entire lives. (It's currently on the top of my hate-meter. It's inescapable these days, and that strumming ukelele sounds like the cheesy music that gets played behind product demo videos or insurance ads. And name-checking Mr. Mister? Wow. I'm in a universe of agony.)
For any burgeoning garage bands out there, remember, this progression is best played in the key of C, so to avoid any of those inconvenient black keys. The four chords are:
C Major (C-E-G)
G Major (B-D-G)
A minor (A-C-E)
F Major (A-C-F)
Be sure to play them in this order, over and over and over and over. The chicks will arrive any moment. (I, on the other hand, will run away swiftly.)
OR buck the trend (please!) and switch them around a bit, into this order:
C Major, A minor, F Major, G Major
And you will have the basis of many great doo-wop songs of the fifties and sixties.
For my money, the much more basic I-IV-V (C-F-G) progression is far less irritating and more versatile. I mean, Blitzkrieg Bop,for heaven's sake. I'll take that over "Don't Stop Believing" any day!